Class Structure and Social Mobility in Poland

Kazimierz M. Slomczynski, Tadeusz K. Krauze

• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9781138037519
• eBook ISBN: 9781351711630
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Politics
• Index: Politics & International Relations

This title was first published in 1978. How far have sociologists working in countries commonly designated as "socialist" gone in studying the class structure and social consciousness of their own societies? What kinds of questions have they posed, and what is the degree of technical sophistication applied in answering them? Western sociologists interested in the fate of their discipline in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union have long recognized that the answers to these questions will differ substantially depending upon which particular socialist society one has in mind. The selection from Polish sociological literature brought together here by Stomczynski and Krauze should help to answer the questions raised and provide readers with the opportunity to assess the quality of Polish sociological studies in the areas of class structure, social mobility, and class consciousness.

Introduction

Kazimierz Słomczyński and Tadeusz Krauze

Studies of class structure and social mobility are among the most highly developed branches of sociology in Poland. This is due to three factors: the national tradition of such studies, the rapid transformation of Polish society after the Second World War, and last, the recent impact of Marxist theory on the social sciences.

In 1920 a research center was established in Warsaw at which the class structure of Polish society was studied intensively. Between 1920 and 1939 it undertook a number of research projects devoted chiefly to the investigation of the standard of living of the working class and peasantry. This research center engaged primarily in empirical surveys. Another research center specialized in collecting and analyzing personal documents, mainly diaries. In retrospect Polish sociology of this period can be regarded as having a strong empirical orientation.

The rapid transformation of Polish society after the Second World War was brought about by the socialist revolution, characterized by the impact of the Workers' Party, the nationalization of industry, agrarian reform, and central planning. In this context new processes within a given class structure and new patterns of social mobility became an object of special attention for sociologists. Class structure and social mobility were considered not only from the point of view of changes in the political and economic system but also with respect to transformations in cultural institutions and the educational system. Formation of the "new society" inspired this research perspective (Szczepański, 1971).

The impact of Marxist theory on the social sciences, already evident in the period from 1918 to 1939, has intensified since 1945. In 1947 Adam Schaff's Introduction to the Theory of Marxism appeared and was widely read and discussed. This book presented an explanation of some specific features of the revolutionary changes in Poland.

Later, discussions of Marx's theory of class were enriched by Ossowski's book Class Structure in the Social Consciousness (1957). However, only after the publication of the works of Julian Hochfeld (1961a, 1961b, 1963) did a research program on class structure crystallize. This crystallization was embedded in the intellectual framework sometimes called "open Marxism," which denotes the application of the foundations of Marxist theory to new problems (Wiatr, 1973). The theme of class structure in a socialist society belongs to this class of problems.

Since the end of the Second World War, the development of empirical research in Polish sociology has been far from uniform. In the years 1945-49 Polish sociology came to life anew after the destruction caused by the war. In view of the drastically reduced number of staff and difficulties with organization, empirical investigations on a large scale were not possible, although a need for them was deeply felt. During the 1950-55 period the political climate did not particularly favor empirical investigation. However, Polish sociologists pointed out that research on the working class was deeply rooted in the Marxist tradition and that it should be introduced without further delay. Consequently, research projects concerning the working class and the intelligentsia were undertaken.

More intensive progress in empirical investigations of class structure, stratification, and social mobility followed after 1955. At first these investigations were concentrated within the confines of the Polish Academy of Sciences. With the passage of time more and more scientific organizations began such investigations, especially the university institutes of sociology. The University of Warsaw, Łódź University, the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, and the University of Poznań have outstanding institutes of sociology.

Up to 1970 there was little coordination in the work of the various scientific centers. On the one hand, this encouraged differentiation of topics and methods, but on the other hand, it led to relatively meager cumulative findings. At the beginning of the seventies investigations of social structure and its transformation were approved by the government as one of the most important areas of sociological study and were awarded increased financial support. Thus arose a need for coordination of the various research projects, a job entrusted to the Polish Academy of Sciences. Not only did the Academy have to coordinate the topics of projects in progress, but it also had to suggest some methods for investigative procedures. During the five-year period 1975-79 more than fifty projects are to be coordinated by the Academy.

One of the basic indicators of the development of a specialty is the number of publications on it. In Poland the number of sociological papers on class structure and mobility currently exceeds 150 per annum, while fifteen years ago it was less than fifty.

The contributions selected for this volume are not limited to articles from journals but also include excerpts from books, since different ways of presenting and interpreting empirical data are displayed in various types of sources.

The present volume consists of three parts. In the first, three papers by Szczepański, Wesołowski, and Zagórski, respectively, describe the general transformations of class structure in a historical framework. The paper by Szczepański is an excerpt from his book about the process of industrialization in Poland during the years 1945-70. The author considers the qualitative and quantitative changes in class structure in different phases of development of the political and economic system.

This range of problems is extended in the paper by Wesołowski, who also considers the technological-economic and the historical-cultural contexts as determinants of social classes and socioeconomic groups. The essay by Zagorski provides basic data about the size and internal composition of these groups and thus constitutes a useful background for the other papers.

The second part of this volume is devoted to social mobility. Another paper by Zagórski, which presents the results of a survey of over 70,000 persons, is followed by an article by Janicka based on more intensive analysis of data obtained from smaller surveys. These two essays analyze intergenerational mobility, while the remaining one, by Słomczyński, pertains to intragenerational mobility. While all the papers in this section of the volume reveal, directly or indirectly, the role of education as a factor explaining the flow of persons between occupations, the last piece focuses on it.

The third part of the volume pertains to class consciousness and class interests. The papers in this section discuss not only such classical problems as the common image of class structure (Malanowski) and perceptions of the adequacy of incomes (Szafnicki) but also new problems, e.g., the place of power among the socially desired values (Koralewicz-Zębik). One essay (Ostrowski) does not pertain to consciousness but to behavior: its purpose is to explore the participation of workers who hold various levels of offices in the trade unions.

The papers selected were written in a country where sociologists are accustomed to viewing class structure as a phenomenon different from social stratification. This distinction as applied to a socialist society has been developed by Wesołowski (1966) and is shared by a large number of sociologists in Poland. The theoretical basis of this view will be presented below, since it may help readers correctly understand the papers.

Taking as a point of departure the Marxist theory of social change, Polish sociologists attempt to show that in this theory classes are defined primarily through economic dominance, which in turn implies their specific political and ideological functions in society. According to this interpretation classes are distinguished on the basis of certain relations rather than attributes, and they are considered as social groups with their own history. In Marxist theory the relation to the means of production is considered fundamental because it determines many other social relations.

The working class, the intelligentsia, and the peasantry are usually distinguished in the class structure of a socialist society, Certain more detailed classifications also include artisans (small private producers) and, within the intelligentsia, white-collar workers. These categories may be considered segments of the class structure because their members have a different degree of control over the means of production, the process of work, and the final product. This differing degree of control affects the position of individuals in dominance-subordination relations in the political and ideological spheres.

These large social groups emerged in the previous socioeconomic epoch. In Poland, however, since the Second World War the functions of these groups have changed fundamentally. In the new political situation the working class, the...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Foreword
• Introduction
• Bibliography: Class Structure and Stratification Processes in Poland, 1956-1976
• About the Editors